Liquid defeat BIG in opening match of ESG Mykonos
The first offline action since ESL One Cologne was a tense affair for Team Liquid. The North Americans immediately found themselves in a hole after BIG leapt out to a 4-0 lead on the back of winning the initial pistol round. A triple kill from young star Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken sparked a run of good form, as they managed to win nine rounds in the half.
The Germans also won the second-half pistol, and went on a run of their own to tie the score at 9-9. The North Americans were gifted a round after Nikola "LEGIJA" Ninić momentarily forgot how to spray, but BIG recovered. Server issues struck with Liquid up 12-11, but neither team seemed much hindered. Liquid grabbed match point first, but BIG were not yet done, reaching 15-14 before the Americans were finally able to close the match out.
LiquidBIG| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
25 - 19 | +6 | 99.3 | 73.3% | 1.37 |
 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
27 - 20 | +7 | 91.4 | 80.0% | 1.31 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
17 - 18 | -1 | 70.7 | 80.0% | 1.15 |
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
13 - 17 | -4 | 52.4 | 76.7% | 0.99 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
18 - 20 | -2 | 65.3 | 63.3% | 0.90 |
| BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz |
31 - 21 | +10 | 105.2 | 80.0% | 1.55 |
| Johannes 'nex' Maget |
18 - 18 | +0 | 82.2 | 80.0% | 1.16 |
| Nikola 'LEGIJA' Ninić |
15 - 19 | -4 | 47.8 | 63.3% | 0.77 |
| Fatih 'gob b' Dayik |
14 - 23 | -9 | 52.3 | 70.0% | 0.77 |
| Kevin 'keev' Bartholomäus |
16 - 20 | -4 | 49.3 | 60.0% | 0.71 |
Liquid now await the winner of a showdown between Virtus.pro and EnVyUs in the upper bracket of Group B, and it doesn't seem like they are too worried about it based on a light-hearted tweet from team captain Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz.
